During the pandemic 8 out of 10 people with disabilities lost their jobs

This article was translated from our Spanish edition using AI technologies. Errors may exist due to this process.

Before the pandemic, 70% of people with disabilities worked informally due to lack of opportunities, according to data from the Paralife Foundation. It is estimated that the number of people in this sector of the population has increased to 80%, according to the Inclúyeme Foundation, an organization that promotes the full inclusion of adults with intellectual disabilities through actions with a rights approach, such as support for employment and opening of job opportunities in the regular market.

This situation becomes more complicated when considering that only some companies have inclusive hiring programs, due to the fact that no greater benefits are offered for operating with these schemes.

Tax deductions for companies that offer these types of programs are minimal, which is why organizations prefer to make donations rather than hiring, which reduces the chances that people with disabilities will have more and better opportunities.

Although there are spaces that implement training programs for work aimed at people with disabilities such as the General Directorate of Work Training Centers (CECATI), the labor CAM of the Ministry of Public Education, the initiative Pillars of the government of Mexico City and some instances of the DIF, these are insufficient to include this sector of the population in the labor market. In addition, it is necessary to give greater follow-up to the selection and integration processes.

For its part, initiatives such as Young People Building the Future did not include people with disabilities.

In addition to this lack of inclusion, evaluation systems such as Valpar exclude people with intellectual disabilities, says Sherezada Martínez, who is deputy director of labor inclusion at the Inclúyeme foundation.

Ottobock, a German company with more than 100 years of experience in caring for people with disabilities, assures that, for people with disabilities, economic recovery will take much longer.

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How to build a more inclusive labor market for people with disabilities?

It is necessary to train the human resources entities of the companies so that they can monitor and solve the challenges that inclusion represents.

Likewise, it is necessary to support and implement initiatives such as “Entrale”, a platform created by the Mexican Business Council, which aims to link companies, NGOs and people with disabilities to promote and support inclusive employment. This initiative has more than 800 partner companies and has employed almost 10,000 people with disabilities in the regular job market.